Ciabatta bread is one of my favorite breads to make sandwiches with, or just toast up and top for breakfast. Finding a whole wheat one (aka ciabatta integrale), however, is near impossible, so, I make my own. I have a goal to scratch make as much food as I possibly can, and only buy ingredients instead of the finished product, so I’ve been developing many bread recipes lately and this is the second one that I’ll be sharing.

The recipe that I based mine off of is not 100% Whole Wheat.. so I’ve adapted it to make it 100% by adding Vital Wheat Gluten and Diastatic Malt Powder. The rest of the recipe and process is about the same.

If you don’t have a kitchen scale, get one. Measuring by weight will give you consistent results with making bread, versus measuring by volume.

This is a very wet dough .. don’t be alarmed

Looking to make a more interesting loaf? Throw in some ingredients during the mixing stage!! In these pictures, you’ll see my version of the bread which includes Sundried tomato, garlic, and basil.

Ingredients

500g Whole Wheat flour

475g Warm Water (~2 cups)

1/2 teaspoon Diastatic Malt Powder

1 tablespoon Vital Wheat Gluten

2 teaspoons yeast

15g salt

Place all ingredients into your stand mixer, and mix all ingredients with the paddle until combined. Let rest 10 minutes

Leaving the paddle in, start working the dough on the lowest speed setting for about 10-30 minutes. You are looking for the dough to separate from the sides of the bowl, and start to climb up the paddle – if it climbs too soon, switch to the dough hook.

Pour into a well oiled container and let it triple – this should take about 2-3 hours

Dump the dough (use a spatula if you have to) on to an extremely well floured surface, and cut it into half. Stretch both halfs out to oblong rectangle shapes, and place on to well oiled pieces of parchment paper. Cover them with well oiled plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes. If you are baking on baking sheets, put the dough and parchment paper on them now. After you have tried this recipe once, you will see how the dough behaves and will be able to safely transfer on to a well floured peel and bake on a stone.

Have your oven to 500F by the end of the 45 minutes, and also have a few cups of boiling water ready at the 45 minute mark. Also, place a crappy cooking sheet or baking pan on the bottom shelf.

Flipping the dough before baking is in the original recipe, but I’ve skipped it without noticing any difference. The dough will be easily flattened, so be careful with it. It does have quite an oven spring, but not enough to undo any damage you’ve done. If you take the flipping route, I suggest placing a second piece of parchment paper on top of the dough, and then flipping the whole shebang upside down to transfer – don’t pinch it with your fingers. Remember, this dough is very sticky.

Place the dough in to the oven, either on pans or transfer on to a stone. Before closing the door, pour a cup of your boiling water in to your crappy pan on the bottom shelf, or directly on the oven floor, and quickly close the door. Every 3 minutes for the first 9 minutes, open the door and quickly spritz the walls with a squirt bottle of water, or pour more water on your pan. This steam is what creates a nice crust on the bread.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until you have a nice brown bread and internal temperature registers 205F.